Privately owned forests provide many public benefits, including clean water and air, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities.  By 2030, 44.2 million acres of rural private forest land across the conterminous United States are projected to experience substantial increase in residential development.  As housing density increases, the public benefits provided by private forests can be permanently altered.  In this report, we examine factors behind projected patterns of residential development and conversion of private forest land by 2030 in northwestern Washington, southern Maine, and northwestern Georgia. These areas were selected for detailed study because the first Forests on the Edge study (Stein et al. 2005) revealed that they each contain watersheds that were nationally ranked as high in terms of the percentage of watersheds containing private forests projected to be developed.